The U.S. economy is growing too slowly. It is not a lack of opportunity; it is the failure to communicate that opportunity. How can that be when the amount of available information is doubling every year or two? The problem is that our ability to assimilate information is static. We cannot double the time to make decisions. We have to find a way to plow through the mountain of information more effectively.

The solution is “Decisive Classification.” It not only provides a quicker route to the relevant information but eliminates the need for part of the investigative sequence. This new tool is available from the McIlvaine Company free of charge. It is based on four decades of research on better ways to convert information to knowledge and knowledge to more effective decisions. The system can be used to organize corporate websites and site maps and provide indices for publishers and conference organizers.

All decision making is a series of classifications in which one alternative is determined to be better than the others. Decisive Classification provides the best way to determine the sequence and select the alternatives. Here are the ways it contributes:

Provides the best sequence

The best sequence may not be the conventional one. Here is an example. An engineer must decide on a reagent, a scrubber and a pump for a power plant desulfurization system. Normally the pump is an afterthought and should be last in the sequence. But it turns out that of the thousands of pump companies only a handful of companies make pumps big enough if certain reagent and scrubber type are chosen. So Decisive Classification benefits from the experience of others to alert the specifier to a better sequence. It also provides the listing of the few companies in the world who can address the one alternative.

Quickly and accurately identifies the application

The U.S. NAICS code is used to identify the industry. A parent child software program along with diagrams, provide a precise description of the application.

Provide the hierarchy of product alternatives

There are many scrubber suppliers with many different designs but there are really only four categories which should be considered for power plant desulfurization.

Provide standardization of terminology in multiple languages

Dosing and metering are both used to describe the same function. Standardizing on one or the other is highly desirable for English speakers. It is even more important for those for whom English is not their primary language.

Accurate numerical identification of corporations

Each financial entity is assigned a corporate number which links to the company name in Latin and Mandarin characters.

Most meaningful geographic segmentation

For most business decisions, the segmentation of the world into 70 countries and 10 subregions to cover the 150 smaller countries results in 80 meaningful entities which can be aggregated into regions and continental entities.

McIlvaine is working with industry associations to standardize on application classifications. It is working with product oriented associations to standardize on product classifications. Contributions and suggestions are encouraged. You can access the “Decisive Classification” at: Global Knowledge Orchard http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/Default.htm